A Picture Paints A Thousand Words
by UnravelingLuv
Summary: Eren Jaeger has always believed in the supernatural. This all started after his mother's death at the young age of ten. Another thing also began here. Ever since then, Eren's been having dreams. His dreams tell a story, growing more intense each day. At age seventeen, Eren and his two friends work together to create magazines. Their newest story helps put the pieces together.
1. Nightmares

**(A/N: Levi's P.O.V is written by Vannaluv and Eren's is written by me. -Unraveling)**

**(Eren's P.O.V)**

_A child walks with a seemingly bored expression on his face. His grey eyes trail to the ground. His black hair catches the light of the sun as he strolls down a cobblestone path. He's with two others; a girl and a boy. The boy is a blonde while the girl is a redhead._

_The two run up and walk beside him. They're both laughing, and they have smiles a mile wide. The black haired boy looks up and gives a small smile. The breeze blows softly past them. They seem so calm. The feeling is inturrupted when blood splatters across my field of vision._

_Everything goes black._

It's been seven years since then. I had the dream after my mother died. I dismissed it as a simple nightmare, but they reoccured every night. Each one showed a different scene. I have them up until now at age seventeen. The child from the first dream is a man now. Sometimes I'm scared to sleep.

The dreams are becoming more intense. Sometimes I wake up, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. They always feel so real. I always feel like I'm there.

Here I am now, walking to school with my two friends: Mikasa and Armin. Armin looks through his camera as he walks, while mine dangles from my neck. Suddenly, I'm falling.

_Everything around me disappears. I see him again. He's facing the blond man with narrowed eyes. He appears enraged. The black haired man is tied up against a bed post. Blood coats the blond man's hands. He appears happy in a way. Something happens, something that's never happened before. I catch a name. A sentence. _

_"Farlan, what have you done?" The black haired man hisses. Ah, so the blond is Farlan._

_"I've found my place, Levi. My place is at the top." _

"Eren!"

"Eren!"

Armin and Mikasa's shouts wake me. I get up, confused, putting a hand to my aching head.

"What happened?" I ask.

"You just collapsed! Are you alright?" Mikasa tells me. I nod, but I decide not to tell them about what I saw. They would worry even more. I stand up.

"Let's get going, we're going to be late." I say. We continue our walk to school, chatting away. I soon forget about the vision.

**(Levi's P.O.V)**

My head is throbbing. I already had a headache from trying to communicate with that brat, and the stupid wolves howling isn't helping.

Maybe it was selfish, I wonder. Me troubling the kid just because I want someone, anyone, to know what really happened that night.

To know that my family was no disgrace, that we weren't killed for associating with witches who stabbed us in the back.

I am the type of person who doesn't get scared easily. Children used to call me fearless.

Farlan had scared me, then.

His maniacal grin and bloody hands.

The red, blood coated knife laying inches away from the chairs they'd been tied to.

He had thought I was angry. I guess after time you get good at hiding fear.

_"Farlan, what have you done?"_ I don't think it clicked in my mind at the time. That he'd killed them.

_"I've found my place, Levi. My place is at the top."_

With those words, I finally realized it.

My mother, father, even Isabel. He killed them.

I watched him kill them. I did nothing to stop him.

Now, I was angry. Not only with Farlan, but with myself.

I remember him laughing as I pulled and fought against the ropes binding me to the bed, ignoring the searing pain as my skin tore away from my wrists and ankles. I remember him continuing to laugh, even as he took Isabel's blade from her corpse, wiping off any blood as he returned to where I was bound.

She tried to save us. She put up a fight, but knew deep down it was pointless. That she, herself, wouldn't be able to stop our brother's time of madness. I saw the silent tears on her face when she died.

My mother died in her sleep. I always knew she was a much too deep sleeper. She never even felt herself being lifted from her bed, tied to a chair, and stabbed repeatedly.

My father tried to talk sense into the mess that had become my brother. He only succeeded in making him angry. My father's death was much more brutal than any of the others.

Besides my own, I suppose.

I just... I need someone else to know what happened. My family does not deserve to be forgotten as criminals, users of witchcraft.

In which case, I need the brat.

Eren is his name, apparently.

I didn't plan on using him, until I found out who he was.

I had what one could call a "dream" with the brat in it. He had simply smiled at me, saying he'd dreamed of me before, and asking my name.

I told him it was Rivaille, the name my mother had originally chosen for me, but it was changed as my father said it was much too hard to pronounce.

He told me his name was Eren Jaeger.

I wondered for a while why that name sounded so familiar, until it finally hit me.

My father once had a close friend, who went by the name of William Jaeger.

I remembered him well, he was kind, though extremely passionate, especially when angry.

We all assumed the worst when the earl went missing. It would seem he lived through whatever happened to him.

I let out a sigh, which seemed to echo throughout the castle.

I needed to get Eren here somehow.


	2. Suffer

**(Eren's P.O.V) **

I lay on Armin's bed, staring up at the ceiling. Armin sat on his desk chair backwards, holding onto the back of it. Mikasa sat on the floor, fiddling with her red scarf.

"Come on, Eren! That isn't like you!" Armin protested. I had denied his request to investigate a castle in France over school break. School was ending in a few days, and Armin was hoping we could all go together for a new article in our magazine.

Why would I travel when we could investigate right here in Britain?

"I've already said no." He sighed, looking over at Mikasa for help. She simply shook her head at him.

"See, even Mikasa thinks it's fine." I said.

"She's just agreeing because you're siblings!" This seemed to make Mikasa upset and flustered.

"This isn't because we're siblings! I-It's, i-it's...simply by choice! If you want disagreement, then f-fine! _Armin's_ right. It's not like you at all. You're usually quick to jump right into a supernatural place like this." The words spilled from her mouth, and she looked down in frustration.

My adoptive sister was not usually quick to anger, but she was protective and most of the time agreed with me. It wasn't like her to get flustered though... Maybe I wasn't being very observant...

I suppose Armin was right. It wasn't like me. Something about the castle just felt _wrong_...

"I'm sorry, I really am. I just don't feel up to it." I concluded. Armin gave me a disappointed look.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Come on Mikasa." I said, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

I put my camera back around my neck. I waved at Armin, and he gave me a half-hearted wave in return, looking still looking at me disappointedly. Mikasa and I left his house and went back home.

-•-

Falling against my own bed, I glanced at the clock. 2:58 A.M. Why am I still awake? I thought. Oh, right. If I slept, I would have another dream. Another dream of him. Levi... Why was I seeing him? Was he just another figment of my imagination? Was he something more? I sighed, turning and staring out of the window. I could feel my eyes closing, and I couldn't resist the temptation to sleep. I was tired, and I couldn't deny that.

Maybe if I closed my eyes for just a minute...

"Oi, brat."

My eyes snapped open, and I found myself standing in a blank space. I looked in every direction, but the voice I heard had no source.

It was familiar in a way...

Deciding to test my theory, I asked: "Who's there?"

Something materialized in front of me. Actually, someone.

There he was, regal as can be. It was Levi, the man who had appeared in dream after dream after dream. I was surprised. I felt like I was seeing him face to face. Who knows? Maybe I was.

"So it was you...I recognized your voice." I said. He looked at me with a blank expression.

"You need to go with your friend." he says simply. I'm shocked. How does he know about Armin's plan? He's not real, he's just something I imagined.

As I continue to look at him, I begin to doubt myself.

"Is your name really Levi?" I ask. He looks annoyed, most likely because I've changed the topic.

"My mother chose the name Rivaille for me originally. Though, it is Levi now."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes," he says, "you told me once in a dream. I told you my name, but it seems that you didn't have the same vision as me. You've only now learned my name."

"Mmhmm, recently..." I tell him. There's so much that I want to say, but I'm not sure when the real me will wake up. After that, only God knows when I'll have another vision.

"You _need_ to learn the truth. You _need_ to go to that castle." he states firmly. I'm fading in and out of reality. I call out to Levi, but light floods my vision.

I wake up.

-•-

"What do you mean that you want to go?" Armin asks. I walk beside him and Mikasa on the way to school. We have two days left until we enter our break. After that, we start a new grade together.

"Let's just say that I had a change of heart." I mumble. He beams at me, looking very excited. Mikasa looks a excited as well. She looks as excited as she can be, which means rare, short, and small smiles.

"Looks like the France expedition is a go! Woo-hoo!" Armin cheers.

I chuckle under my breath. Jeez, what a dork...

"You won't regret it, Eren! We'll get a great story, definitely some great pictures, too! Consider it done!" Armin exclaims. I give him a fake smile to mask my true mixed emotions. He doesn't really know why I changed my mind.

Frankly, I don't know why I did it either. The dream could have meant nothing. Maybe it wasn't even real. I probably just came to my senses and decided to take a chance; like I always do. There was no backing out now though. Armin was set on this, and I had just agreed. I just hoped that he was right, though.

I hoped that it would be worth it.

**-•-A Few Months Later-•-**

After the school year ended, we planned out our trip to France. Armin wanted to leave as soon as possible out of excitement. We bought our tickets and packed our belongings for the amount of time we would be there. Three weeks isn't that bad, right? I'm not even sure if I'm doing this for them. I thought. I feel like there's something more. Staring down at my camera, I realized that night was upon me. I would have to sleep. After yesterday's dream, I didn't want to see any more.

**-•-The night before-•-**

Glancing around, I found myself standing in what seemed to be a bedroom. Three corpses littered the floor, and blood stained the once clean floor. I turned around after hearing a banging noise. I saw Levi tied up, pulling against his restraints, and the blond man, Farlan, holding a reddened knife.

He had his finger on the tip of it, as if testing how sharp it was. I frowned when I saw their lips move. No sound came. I felt like I was back at square one, back at the first dream. Farlan walked towards Levi, knife still in hand.

"St-" came a voice, "-Far-" "-lan!"

Ah, so I can hear them. The broken up speech reminded me of an old radio losing signal.

Farlan, however, ignored Levi's protests, holding the knife right by his throat. "I could kill you right now," he said, "but I'd-" "-watch you _suffer_."

I watched as Levi was cut in different places, sometimes deep and sometimes shallow. It was all painful, nonetheless. Watching made me feel the pain in a way, too.

Farlan laughed like a madman without a care in the world. Levi held onto the ropes as some kind of block from the pain, and he grit his teeth in an attempt not to cry out. I could tell that he was having trouble keeping up his act.

To finish him off, Farlan plunged the blood covered knife through Levi's heart. His grip on the ropes loosened, and Levi's grey eyes went dull. His head fell limp, looking down to the ground like that of a doll. He looked similar to a puppet with strings attached to it.

Farlan simply left, leaving the knife in, dripping from the handle.

**-•-Back to Today-•-**

I woke up._ What?_ I thought. I had gone to sleep without even realizing it. The other thing that puzzled me is that I didn't have another dream. I decided to shrug it off. Mikasa knocked on the door, before opening it.

"We're leaving soon. You should get dressed."

I stared at her from where I sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Yeah, give me like five minutes." With that, she closed the door. I heard her walk downstairs.

"It's only three weeks, Jaeger. Suck it up." I muttered to myself.

-•-

Mikasa sat next to the aisle, while I sat near the window. Armin sat at the seat across from ours. I stared out of the window in boredom. This is taking too long. I thought.

As if my mind was read, the signal for take off went out through the intercom. I put on my seat belt after realizing that it wasn't on. I went back to gazing out of the window, watching as the ground grew further away.

-•-

Aside from the amazing view, the ride was boring as hell. We got off, and saw that it was getting dark.

"There's no point in investigating that old castle right now. It's getting late. Why don't we head out tomorrow?" Mikasa suggested.

Armin seemed to agree, so I just went with it. _I guess I can stay up._ I thought. The three of us found a nearby hotel to stay at, and stayed there for the rest of the night.

**-•-**

**Alright, there's chapter 2! Lack of Levi's P.O.V on this chap. Sorry for the long wait, I thought we had already posted it! In case you haven't noticed, there is one inconsistency in our story. We can't agree on how to spell Furlan/Farlan. While I spell it with a U, Azure prefers it with an A. Let us know what you prefer, please! **_**~Vanna**_


	3. Transparent

**(Levi's P.O.V)**

I could practically tell he was sleeping. His presence was easier for me to detect when he wasn't conscious.

So, I closed my eyes, allowing myself to 'dream' as well.

I laughed along with Furlan as Isabel climbed on our father's shoulders to try and place the star on the tree.

"Papa, I can do it if Levi can!"

Furlan rolled his eyes as little redhead leaned into the tree, trying hard to get her short arms to reach the tip.

"Isabel, you're going to knock over the entire tree. Just let Levi do it."

"No, Furlan! I can do anything Levi can!"

I found myself smiling at her naivety, even though, myself only being eleven, was still pretty naive myself.

"Yes, you can, _chère_." My mother spoke from her seat in the armchair, a small smile on her face.

Isabel grinned and reached up the last bit, placing the golden star on top of the Christmas tree.

My father lowered her with a smile, and Uncle Jaeger clapped, laughing in a way that could only be described as jolly.

"Mama," Furlan had cut in. "Can we get Levi's cake, now?"

"Oui."

My brother walked out of the room, coming back with a large cake, which he obviously shouldn't have been carrying.

He made it to the table, nearly dropping it about nine times.

"Do you have to sing happy birthday, mama? It's no different from any other day, really."

Both my parents had looked at me in shock when I said that.

"Alright, _Rivaille_."

My mother was the only one who called me by my birth name.

Within minutes, the cake was cut, and everyone had gotten a slice.

Of course, I never had much the taste for cake, but I ate it, because it was worth it to see the looks of happiness on my family's faces.

"Happy birthday, Rivaille."

"Happy birthday, Levi!"'

I snapped into focus once the flashback ended.

The brat was coming tomorrow. Best to prepare.

He was going to have to take in a lot.

It's not everyday a spirit comes and tells you how their family was killed.

I could imagine the conversation now.

' "My family was brutally murdered by own brother. Sounds like fun right? What makes it even more great is that he killed me too!"

"W-What?"

"And then I killed him! What fun!" '

I'm so glad I'm not that type of person.

I'll have to start light. Explain who I am, and why he's been having these dreams. I hope he doesn't ask me questions.

The brat just needs to shut up and listen. Hopefully what I say will be enough for him to stay quiet.

I let out what would have been a breath had I had the need to breathe.

I'm thinking too much. Jaeger will be fine.

**-•- ~The next evening~ -•-**

"R-Remind me again why you said we had to go at n-night?"

I quickly stood at the sound of those words.

"Armin, stop being such a baby. You of all people should know that everything good is out at night."

"Eren. Don't bully Armin. Armin. Stop whining."

They were here? Already? I found myself looking at the dusty grandfather clock on the shelf, though it stopped working years ago.

"Wanna split up?" A boy's voice spoke up, I assumed it was Eren's, since the other voice, which I guessed was a male, was a few octaves higher.

"Sure." Said a monotone voice.

"Armin, go with Mikasa to check this floor. I'll check upstairs, and then we'll all check the lower floors together."

"A-Alright."

"Okay."

I listened to the stairs creaking under weight that they haven't held in years.

I sat back down, waiting for the moment when the brunet would end up in my room.

I hoped he didn't touch anything. He's probably _filthy_.

**(Eren's P.O.V)**

Stepping onto the stairs, the weight made them creak, inturrupting the utter silence I was left in after my friends had went on their way. I jumped at the sudden noise. Calm down, Jaeger...it's just some old stairs. I proceeded to ascend. Reaching the top, I found a long, dark hallway littered with cobwebs. To my right, I saw an open door.

Something was drawing me towards it.

As if I were being controlled, I walked towards the room and entered it. I recognized it the moment I walked in.

I walked a bit further, nearly tripping over something. I yelped in surprise, and I looked down to see a skeleton. I stumbled backwards in shock over seeing a decomposed body. There wasn't only one, however.

There were _three_.

I noticed that what I thought was a red colored floor was actually a white floor stained with dried blood. I decided to leave the room and check out a different one.

Walking a bit further down the hallway, I passed another open door to my left. I peered inside to see a skeleton on the bed with a blood covered knife near the heart area. The long blade was driven so deep that part of it was going through the bed. I proceeded to walk a bit more, coming to a door at the very end of the hall.

I walked inside.

Sitting at a desk facing the door was a dark haired male. His fingers were against his temples, and his eyes were closed. He stood _transparent_ against the rest of the darkened room.

"Hello..?" I called out. His eyes snapped open and gazed through my own.

"It's about time you got in here, brat." he said, standing up. He moved to the front of the desk.

I rubbed at my eyes. No, this wasn't real, right? When my eyes refocused, he was still there. This indeed, was not a dream. This was reality.

"You're awake, stupid." he growled.

"You're Levi, right? The one from the dreams I've been having?" He nodded.

"We've been over this. Let's skip the questions for now, though. There's something you need to hear."


	4. Eyes

**(Levi's P.O.V)**

He was taller than I had expected. I mean, I knew he was taller than me, but he's just a kid, so I didn't think it would be by that much.

"There is a reason you came here."

He interrupted me, "Yeah, Armin said-"

"Don't interrupt, brat. Your friend only found this place because I wanted him to."

I found myself slightly happy when the brat decided to shut up. I was growing tired of him interrupting me all the time.

"I made sure your friend-Armin, right?-Well, I made sure he found out about this place. He's too clumsy to find it by himself."

"And how did you do that?"

"Tch. Inanimate objects are easy enough to manipulate. I located a book on old castles. It just so happened to fall from the shelf as your friend walked pass."

"Oh..."

"I wanted you here because I need you to do something for me."

Eren raised a dark eyebrow. "What could I do for you?"

"Well-"

I stopped at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"I should go."

Eren looked slightly startled as I simply disappeared. In reality, I'd only moved to the attic much faster than human eyes could be permitted to see.

I could hear his friends enter the room I'd just left. The boy, Armin, spoke.

"Eren? W-Who were you talking to?"

**(Eren's P.O.V)**

Staring at Armin in shock, I simply stood there, not knowing what to do or say. Can he see Levi at all? I thought.

I flicked my eyes towards where Levi once stood, but he was gone. I sighed softly, looking back at Armin and grinning.

"You must think I'm crazy, huh? Talking to myself like that...did I scare you?"

"N-No! O-Of course not...people do it all the time! I just thought..." he paused, "...nevermind."

I could see a strange look on Mikasa's face from where she stood behind Armin.

It almost seemed like...

...suspicion...

I shrugged it off and asked if the two had found anything. Both denied. We agreed on coming back tomorrow. Armin insisted that something had to be here.

The two walked downstairs after I told them I'd look around for a while more. They decided to do the same.

When my friends were gone, Levi came back.

"Where the hell did you even go?" I asked. He had left so quickly. It was amazing.

"The attic. I just went faster than your human eyes could see."

"They almost saw you...we have to be more careful.." Truthfully, I didn't know why we had to hide it from them. Something was telling me that this didn't concern them, though. Levi had chosen me.

He needed my help with something.

He nodded in agreement.

"They'll probably come back and drag me out of here, so we'll have to continue talking tomorrow."

"But-"

"Eren! We're leaving. We found nothing down here!" I heard Mikasa say. I said a quiet goodbye to Levi, meeting my sister at the bottom of the stairs.

~-•-~

We got back to the hotel, getting to the room the three of us shared. Armin was the first to fall asleep. Poor guy. Took on too much, eh? Then again, he does that every time we investigate something. I closed the door the bathroom, meeting Mikasa's eyes from where she sat on the bed.

"I'm not blind, you know." she said.

"Of course not." I said. No lie there.

"I know you lied to Armin." I remained quiet.

"He knows too, doesn't he? That I lied..." Mikasa nodded at me.

"We saw him too. The spirit." she replied, making me flinch.

"You weren't supposed to see-"

"Why not? Why is this a secret that you're hiding from us?"

"...It just..doesn't concern either of you." She tried to be as understanding as possible, but it wasn't working.

"So what...? You don't need us anymore? You can do this on your own?" Her voice seemed to rise higher with each word.

"T-That's not-! Look, I'm sorry. He needs my help..I just- I don't know what's wrong with me... Part of me wanted to tell you, but..."

"But what?"

"Part of me wants it all to myself..."


End file.
